Former Republican presidential candidate and biotechnology entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has acquired a minority stake in BuzzFeed, the digital publishing company that shuttered his media outlet last year.
The company’s shares soared on Wednesday.
Ramaswamy acquired a 7.7% stake in BuzzFeed, according to a Tuesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Ramaswamy said in his filing that he believed BuzzFeed’s stock was undervalued. He is seeking to speak with the company’s board of directors and management.
BuzzFeed has struggled to sustain sales since its IPO in 2021. End of 2022 job cuts have started the company cited a poor digital advertising environment, then announced early last year that it was shutting down its Pulitzer Prize-winning digital media outlet. BuzzFeed News.
Parent company co-founder and CEO Jonah Peretti said in a memo to staff at the time that in addition to the news division, layoffs would take place across its business, content, technical teams and administrative.
Earlier this month, BuzzFeed reported a first-quarter loss of $35.7 million, or 72 cents per share, on revenue of $44.8 million. Advertising revenue fell 22%, while content revenue declined 19% and the company expects the revenue situation to deteriorate.
Ramaswamy suspended his bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination in January and approved former president Donald Trump after finishing a distant fourth in The first Iowa caucuses.
The son of Indian immigrants, Ramaswamy entered politics at the highest level after making hundreds of millions of dollars at the intersection of hedge funds and pharmaceutical research, a career he charted and built as he was a graduate of Harvard University and then Yale Law School.
Shares of New York-based BuzzFeed Inc. rose 22% to around $3.05 early Wednesday.
